A Lifetime of Loving You
by the Cheshire Cat
Summary: Kez grown up, Raven quite grown up and then realisations dawning on both of them


I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You

**I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You**

**by ^death^ Himura**

**Disclaimer:** Hex and the characters were not created by me and do not belong to me.

The stars... the sky... an empty vacuum known only as space. Pale white fingers reached out tentatively to the sky, wanting to have a feel off the offered heaven above her. But the fingers never once did reach the sky, encountering only air and the stale atmosphere.

Heaven...

"Raven?" She did not turn back, refusing to allow this intrusion to her privacy. Refusing to acknowledge the presence of another in her sanctuary. Though there was something vaguely familiar with this presence. It did not belong to Cloud Estavisti, her eccentric companion who had once tried to betray her and sell her out.

No... this presence belonged to someone whom she had known far longer than Cloud. Someone from the beginning.

"Yes Kez?" Her voice was soft and strangely delicate, no hint of the usual detachedness she was so accustomed to putting on when around others. Footsteps behind and then a solid figure standing beside her, eyes too glued to the cloudy black canvas of the sky.

"I need to talk to you." Was all he said, no hint of the strained emotion in the even tone of his voice. Raven lifted her shoulders slightly and continued watching the stars. Silence encompassed them and the world passed on by, leaving two restless souls in its wake.

"Raven... I need to know if... if you feel anything." The words were like a rush to him, but Kez surprised himself when he spoke of them so confidently and casually. He could almost see his companion's slender eyebrow arching in amusement.

"Feel what?" She didn't know? Kez swallowed down his humiliation. He couldn't stand it anymore, not when he knew that any day now he could have lost her. To the Federation, to the Seccies, to the CPS. Or worse yet, to someone else.

He scowled recalling her closeness to Cloud.

"Raven." His voice was more urgent now and he spun around, facing her. He had grown considerably taller, his growth spurt accompanying his age. His shoulders more broader, long sinewy arms hidden beneath the long-sleeved sweater he wore. When he had first met her he was about to turn fourteen. Raven herself had only turned fifteen, thus the difference in their age was not much.

She did not respond, though he could see the naked longing in her face to be amongst the stars.

A single hand snaked out to cup her face and then bring him into her line of sight.

Her obsidian eyes stared blankly, not comprehending what he was about to do.

"Can you hear me Raven?" She suddenly blinked and the intensity of her eyes nearly overwhelmed him. Oh she was listening alright.

"Raven... I needed to ask you if felt anything. For me... or perhaps for anyone _else_." There was much emphasis in the else. Though if there was someone else, Kez wasn't quite sure how he would have reacted.

Silence.

"I've... I can't explain it. Maybe it's just general physical attraction. Or... something more." He turned away then and his arms left her.

"Maybe it's something more..." Her voice was a bare whisper. Kez turned back to find her giving the same wide-eyed stare, one hand on her hip and the other hanging loosely by her side. There was a small quirk to her lips. 

"Huh?" Kez blinked in disbelief. Could it be?

"Raven..." His voice and thoughts trailed off and then he was swamped with an intoxicating rush of emotions as she clamped her lips down onto his. Arms found themselves around her lean waist, holding her tight and flush against him. She felt so... right. As though she were made for him, and him alone.

Perhaps this was what she was waiting for all along. Raven closed her eyes and succumbed herself to his lips. Warm and reassuring.

All her life she was careful not to let anyone come near her. Touch her. The fear of losing and of heartbreak almost so clear and evident. Not even Wraith came close to trying to bridge the distance between them. It had seemed he was almost content with having things the way they were.

And her heart had trembled.

All her life she was waiting for something like this. For a chance to perhaps live a simple and normal life. Not encumbered by the threats of death that loomed above her head dominantly.

All her life she had been waiting for this. For someone to finally step forward and pull her into the cocoon of warmth and hope. To hold her, to care for her, to love her.

Kez suddenly went rigid when he felt the delicate figure in his arms suddenly crumble, her body convulsing slightly.

_Crying? His Raven? Crying?_

His hold went tighter still and amidst their soft kisses he uttered soft words of comfort and reassurance. He could hear incoherent mumbles and the strange gasp in her throat when he applied more pressure against her lips, trying to force whatever it was that was making her tears fall.

"Don't cry... please don't..." He mumbled and then placed a soft kiss on the pulsing point on her neck. She trembled and then gave a short sigh, her body going nearly limp in his arms. They were on their knees now, Raven's legs having been giving out on her.

Her head rested on his shoulder, her hair billowing about them like a thick shimmering mist.

Always... forever... just like this...

"Always..."

"Forever..."

"Just like this..."

"Eternity..."

"I love you." They both whispered simultaneously and then Raven tilted her face upwards and he kissed her again.


End file.
